Zihuatanejo, December 2011

Thursday Dec 1^st Laundry day. Art is up early and out the door before Gillian is out of bed! He needs to get there early in order to be sure of a machine or two being available.

Laundry day is Art's regular chore (which he enjoys). Clothes go into the washer then Art heads down the street and around the corner to La Tertulia for breakfast. Back to the laundromat to transfer the loads to the dryer then he's off to the Zihua Pancake House or some other nearby place for an espresso and to read the paper for a while as the clothes go round and round.

Clothes (mostly) folded and stuffed back into the laundry bag, Art returns to the motorhome by about 10:00 AM, a few more Brownie Points climbing back again up towards the distant Zero he had started the relationship with so many years ago.

Just before noon the restaurant staff arrived, all but the chef of previous years who had decided not to come back this year. The chef's helper Orelio, or Niño as he is fondly called, was now the chef, with Memo, the owner pitching in as well.

Mundi, the RV Park owner ( and Memo's brother) showed up of course, it was good to see everyone again.

The balance of the day was taken up with getting the chairs out and just generally relaxing. We wouldn't get everything set up until we had the motorhome washed and waxed in a few days. We have to check with Mundi to ensure that there is enough water, and to arrange for our “Auto Lavado” crew to come to the park. Too big a job in this heat to do it ourselves!

That evening we joined friends at in the restaurant, our habitual First Day Dinner to celebrate our arrival in Zihuatanejo in general and El Manglar in particular. There will be a Last Night dinner following in three months or so.

Later we returned to the motorhome, having left the dogs inside, to find a large hole in Trekker's new bag of dog food!

Friday morning Art took a stroll through the restaurant to check out the estuary and was welcomed back by the appearance of this little fellow near the remains of the bridge to the beach. Hope this bridge gets repaired soon. It took most of last year just to get the permission to do the work!

Later in the day Art went to the Auto Lavado to arrange a wash crew. They decided that they would be able to come Monday morning at 7:30! Art said no, too early, make it 8:00. Since that was several days we decided to put out the "carpet" and the rest of the chairs--they could be easily moved.

Saturday, December 3 was laundry day again for Art—sheets and towels this time; 172 pesos! Including Thursday's bill which he had forgotten to pay!

In the evening we went into town for a Callejoneada, a parade of musicians playing and singing as they walk, accompanied by locals and visitors. (A callejon is a small alley) Gillian walked the route with the musicians while Art took the jeep into centro to find a place to park and met Gillian at the basketball court, a local gathering place, where the parade would end and the collection box passed around.

Here we chatted with some of the musicians. Art was particularly interested in a 12 string instrument which one of the young ladies was playing. It resembled and sounded much like a mandolin which he had once begun to learn to play. A mandolin though has 8 strings, or more properly 4 sets of double strings. The young lady explained that yes it was a mandolin, with 4 sets of triple strings!

From the basketball court we went on for drinks at Hija del Capitan, above La Playa Bar, and meet again owner Tanya, her brother Kenny and Didi, one of the cooks, all of whom we have known for years. Then home for some TV then to bed.

In the wee small hours we woke to munching sounds—Tia eating dog food kibble-- the hole in the bag much larger now! We suspect that Trekker had had his big nose in the bag, and being a messy eater had scattered some on the floor that Tia was cleaning up! Tia is the dominant one, and Trekker would have backed off.

Monday morning the wash/wax crew arrive at about 8:30 and quickly got to work. A complete wash and wax took them six hours, temperature about 30 degrees C. at mid day. 1,000 pesos--about $80.00. Probably over paid, but it is what we have paid each year!

The rest of the month progressed much like previous Decembers, described in previous posts, so we wont bore you repeating all with details. (Besides which, this post wasn't finished until March!)

Gillian signed up for a month at Curves, we wandered the markets, visited hairdressers, barbers, the Dia de Guadelupe parade, a couple of Pasadas, and restaurants; Hija del Capitan, Don Memo's, La Chuleta, Nardo's (Christmas Eve with friends—turkey dinner with all the fixin's) and countless lunches and dinners at Restaurant El Mangler.

We also attended a book signing and reading by Linda Leonard, ( a long time Zihua friend) of excerpts of her book “Living the Dream in Mexico”.

Here are a few photos take during December.



Crocodiles, with Martin the waiter taking a break!

These Christmas decorations are for sale along the road side on the way into centro.

Christmas Eve we went with friends to Nardo's, which involved a stroll along Calle Adelita, where there are many great restaurants. Unfortunately the City Fathers decided that December would be a good time to dig up the street, replace all water and sewer lines and repave--estimated to be a three month job!

Shortly after we arrived friend presented us with two cherry tomato seedlings which we finally got around to potting up. Hope they ripen before we leave! The herbs seem to be doing OK, though the mint is struggling and we are a bit concerned about the oregano, marjoram and thyme. The two types of basil and the tarragon are thriving. Looks like a bumper crop. (Sorry!)

Christmas Day was quiet, though Art finally got around to hanging a couple of pictures that Gillian had purchased in Victoria before we left. One in particular is to remind us of home while we are away so is displayed near the dinette.

New Year's Eve was spent quietly at home in the RV Park. There are lots of fireworks this night and the dogs, particularly Tia, is quite nervous of the loud noises so we don't like to leave her alone, though we did walk to the beach at midnight to watch the main displays around town.

Our dinner tonight was Art's famous home made pasta—lasagne! Not even too much flour on the dinette seat, table or floor—he is getting the hang of it!

Puerto Escondido to Zihuatanejo November 29-30

Puerto Escondido to Pie de la Cuesta

Another long drive today. Hoping to arrive at Pie de le Cuesta, (a popular beach area just to the north of Acapulco) by 5:00PM, we were on the road by 7:15AM. Two and a half hours later we stopped for fuel for the motorhome and brunch for us and were moving again at 10:20 We had grabbed a quick bite and also made some lunch for later which we would eat as we drove.

As always we enjoyed the local sights and scenery along the way. The small three wheeler in the first photo is a taxi common in this part of the coast They were every where in the villages. The river one of hundreds along the way.

The roads were good for the most part, though shoulders nonexistent, the terrain being flat along here with a few hills most of which we have to go around or over but the odd one we just went through.

And of course road construction and repair such as this bridge, destroyed during the rainy season or perhaps a hurricane. Leave the old piece at least for now, build the new alongside!

And the occasional miscellaneous roadside hazard.

Approaching Acapulco we turn inland and follow the toll road towards Mexico City then exit again in a few kilometers to detour around the city. Acapulco city traffic is not where we want to be in the motorhome.

Our first trip here (some nine years ago) we stayed one night at the Diamante Trailer Park (near the airport) then drove west into the city along the coast to Playa Suave Trailer park which was right in the city and stayed there for a few nights before carrying on. That was the last time we went though Acapulco! (Playa Suave Trailer park closed some time ago.) The avoidance of frustration is worth the hour so to go around and 84 pesos for each vehicle for the toll. At the toll booth at 3:00 PM we pulled over to let the dogs out for five minutes for a quick pee and a stretch.

We arrived at the Acapulco Trailer Park comfortably ahead of schedule at 4:15 and were nicely snugged in by 4:30. No satellite TV tonight though!

The park has a lovely common sitting area with beautiful chairs and benches made from native tree trunks and driftwood.

Early next morning Art noticed one of Gillian's shoes was missing. It seems that the campground has a puppy that likes shoes! Fortunately it was found without too much difficulty and much luck on the beach!

Pie de la Cuesta to Zihuatanejo

Shoe recovered, at 9:30 we set off along the Pie de la Cuesta road back to the 200, our final leg to Zihuatanejo

This section of the 200 had been recently resurfaced and was for the most part in excellent shape. We were even able to overtake the odd slow vehicle that we came across.

Nearing Zihuatanejo we stopped at the Pemex station at the airport road to top up the diesel tanks and arrived at El Manglar, our home for the next three months, at 4:10 PM, one day ahead of our reserved date.

Many old faces to welcome us back; Keith and Yvonne, Brian and Arlene, Julia. . . . . the list goes on.

Unfortunately the restaurant is closed Wednesdays so we had to postpone our celebratory lunch and dinner here until the following day! Ah well, there is always El Pirata, or Rossy's or. . . . .

Ocozocoautla to Puerto Escondido Nov 26 - 28

Not exactly bright and early but close enough, we left Hogar Infantil at 9:00

We were interested in the new toll road but decided to carry on directly west from the town rather than back track, thinking that we would be able to get on a bit further south. In any case we had taken this road before and remembered it as a nice drive and not too difficult though a bit twisty and hilly. Also we needed to turn west for the more direct route, though the long way was all toll roads and may have been faster.


Several kilometers later, 30 or so at a rough guess, we came to where the roads crossed. There appeared to be an exit from the toll road to the libre but no access from the libre to the toll road. Oh well. We carried on and enjoyed the drive and the scenery.

In the photo on the right you can see the toll road ahead and below as the libre curves off to the left. We followed this rig a few kilometers but were eventually able to get past safely as so far there was lots of flat countryside with nice straight bits to the road.


But that didn't last.














Into the afternoon the terrain flattened out as we crossed the narrowest part of Mexico. This area is know for strong winds, often up to 80 K/H and the Mexican Government is taking advantage of that.



Near Ventosa (“Windy”) we missed the 185 D (toll road) which bypassed the towns and ended up driving through Zaragoza where we again missed the turn off at Tehuantepec back to the toll road and so soon found ourselves driving through the city of Salina Cruz!

By now it was getting well onto if not past lunch time so once we were north bound on the 200 (the highway that runs up the west coast to Puerta Vallarta and beyond) we stopped for a lunch break, about 100 kilometers south of Huatulco, which would be our stop for the night.

Forty minutes later at 2:50 we were rolling again The last 100 kilometers taking us almost 2 hours, we arrived at Tangolunda RV Park at 4:40.



A leisurely start Sunday morning for the short run up to Puerto Escondido, just over 100 kilometers away. Once back northbound on the highway 200 we came across signs of new road construction. It appears that this section of the 200 is in line for some very welcome major upgrades. Many of the hard corners are being removed and the road widened. This continued on and off all the way to Puerto Escondido where the approaches from the south of town were being done when we last passed this way three years ago.


We stayed at Hotel Villa Las Brisas, a new park for us. We were first told to park in the parking lot but it wasn't too level. Then we were told we could park in the field next door which actually had serviced RV sites, or had had at one time. They were pretty run down and there was a large burnt patch of grass in the middle which had obviously been where they burnt rubbish.


We had to look around for a reasonably level site (remember the jacks don't work!) and for an electrical outlet that worked and there was no water at the sites, the pipes were broken. The bathrooms and showers in the RV Park? We'll just let the photos say it all.


We stayed here two nights, using the facilities in the rig of course! The second day we borrowed a hose and by adding it to all the hoses we carry with us we were just able to reach a tap near the bar by the hotel pool. The second day a workman began trimming the grass and brush along the south wall where there were more spaces.

This could have been a very nice place. The hotel has a sushi restaurant (serves other food as well) and a nice pool which was pretty dirty after all the weekend traffic. The manager was quite annoyed as the water truck which he had arranged (to change the pool water) had not showed. Mañana. (It hadn't arrived by the time we left on Tuesday.)




Monday we backtracked in the Jeep to Puerto Angel to check out the RV Parks there and to once more check the access. We decided it could be done in our rig and the park looked quite pleasant too.






Near the RV park we stopped in a small village for lunch at a great little ocean front “drive in” restaurant. Each table over looked the beach and had it's own covered parking place. The right hand photo was taken from the front seat of the jeep.




A beautiful beach – one lonely beach vendor. And the food was good too!

















On the way back to Puerto Escondido we took the opportunity to take more photos of the highway construction. . . . . .




. . . .as well as some of the unspoiled scenery.

At one point we were quite puzzled over this obviously new fancy gate in the middle of it all.